Now that the leaves have fallen and the tops of trees are exposed, you might notice something unique up in those treetops or bushes.
It's pretty big — about the size of a basketball, egg-shaped and gray with swirled patterns. It might look a little out of place. You have spotted a bald-faced hornet nest.
What to look for and where
Bald-faced hornet nests can reach more than 1 foot wide and 2 feet tall! They are usually built at least 3 feet above the ground, but they can be found as high as 60 feet up. They are often found hanging from a tree branch, bush, or shrub; along the eaves of a building; under a deck; or even dangling from your house. They can be found inside a playhouse, on a playground or around light fixtures.
Words to know
Barbed: Having a sharp projection or projections to make extraction difficult.
Brood: A family of young animals.
Eaves: The part of a roof that meets or overhangs the walls of a building.
Overwinter: To live through the winter.
Tatter: Torn in many places.
In the spring, overwintering queens emerge from tree bark, stumps, logs, rock piles and other protected spots. Each queen builds a small nest with a few brood cells, lays eggs and gathers insects to feed the growing workers.
Seasonal nests
In the spring, the bald-faced hornet queen begins to build her ball-shaped, papery nest. After being the lone survivor of the winter, she emerges to choose a suitable location for the new brood of bald-faced hornets to live.
She begins by collecting nearby wood fibers to construct the nest. If you look closely at the nest, you can see different layers are different colors. The different-colored wood they use to make these nests is the cause of that.
Chewing the fibers and mixing them with her saliva, she builds the inner nest layer by layer. First, the structure resembles a funnel — wide on the top with a small tube entrance several inches long. She then assembles brood cells that are similar to a honeybee's comb, which she thickly covers, forming a papery outer shell.
The purpose of the nest is to raise the young. This lone queen begins laying eggs and raising female offspring. These workers will take over her construction duties, working hard to enlarge and maintain the nest, ensuring it stays good quality and intact. The workers also take care of offspring so the queen can focus on her main duty — producing more eggs.
By the end of summer, the worker bees have built quite an impressive nest that houses many family members. There will be about 300 bees: the queen bee and many drones, worker bees and larvae all living together.
Not only do the workers manage the hive, tend the eggs and raise the larvae, they also forage for food. Busy outside the hive, workers visit flowers to collect nectar while pollinating all along the way.
In the early fall, new queens and male drones are born. They leave the nest to mate. The queen will look for a protected spot safe enough to spend the winter. As the weather cools, the rest of the workers and the original queen gather together in tight clusters inside the nest to stay as warm as they can for as long as they can. Eventually, though, they will freeze and die. All hope lies with the new queen in her overwintering spot.
New nests are built by the new queen every year. The old, abandoned nest usually gets tattered or completely destroyed by birds searching for food or by the cold winter winds and snow. The queen will survive the winter by burrowing in a rock pile, hollow tree, under a log or bark or even in the attic of a building. This is called diapause, and it is sort of like hibernating.
When the queen awakes from her winter diapause, the cycle starts over. She will now be responsible for her new social family of hornets. She chooses a new spot for her new nest, collects wood fibers, begins construction and lays her eggs, starting a new brood of bald-faced hornets.
Friend or foe?
Are bald-faced hornets our friends or our foes? Let’s take a closer look.
Territorial foe: These feisty insects can pack quite a punch with their stinger. The barbed stinger of a honeybee is pulled out of the insect when it stings, so it can sting only once. But the smooth stinger of the bald-faced hornet allows this insect to sting multiple times. Because bald-faced hornets are protective of their nests, territorial attacks can happen when their colony is disturbed. These hornets will stand guard at the entrance of the nest — ready to strike if necessary. It is best to steer clear of nests whenever possible.
Wood-damaging foe: Look closely at wooden structures outdoors. Do you notice any signs of wear and tear on a fence or part of a building? Straight lines of wood are chewed away by this hornet. The bald-faced hornet will gather pieces of wood in its mouth, fly it back to the nest and use the wood pulp as a construction material. We know paper is made from trees, but so is the papery bald-faced hornet nest!
Pollinator friend: When we think of pollinators, we usually think of bees and butterflies. But there are lots of other friends to the flowers, including bats, beetles, ants and, you guessed it, bald-faced hornets. All these insects play an important role in our ecosystems.
Pest-control friend: Though bees are known for eating nectar, these bald-faced hornets have a more diverse appetite. Visiting your garden, they have an appetite for aphids as well as soft-bodied insects like caterpillars.
Often times we are quick to ask how to get rid of an insect or their home when we see one. Don’t be a foe to this hornet friend. If the bald-faced hornet is not causing any harm, it's best to let it and its nest be. They are an important part of the ecosystem.
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